This invention relates generally to terminal blocks and the like.
A terminal block of this type is known from German Patent Publication DE 39 22 072 Al. In this known terminal the plug contact consists of a bushing designed as a blind hole of the clamp body in which the contact blades are inserted. Such form of the clamp body is quite difficult to manufacture. Besides, a step of inserting the contact blades into the body complicates the assembly body for manufacture. Besides, inserting the contact blades constitutes.
It is the object of the invention to design a terminal block of the type referred to in such a way that its manufacture and assembly are further simplified and thus become more cost-efficient.
One of the ways to solve the above mentioned problem is to provide a terminal block contact blades which are formed during one-piece sheetmetal stamping along with the conductor protection element and are disposed in a bushing of the terminal housing.
In the case of the terminal block according to the invention, the conductor protection elements of the screw clamp are made and assembled in one piece with the contact blades of the plug contacts. The conductor protection elements and the contact blades are stamped in a single stamping operation from a sheetmetal strip and can be assembled as a cohering unit. This reduces the mannufacturing as well as the assembly costs. As the blades form a cohering unit with the conductor protection element, electrically conducting contact between a wire conductor clamped in the conductor receiving passage of the clamp body and a plug pin inserted into the plug is ensured. An electrically conducting connection of the contact blades with the clamp body is immaterial, so that the blades can be inserted into a bushing of the terminal housing made of plastic, which permits a simpler design and reduces the material requirement of the clamp body.
Generally the terminal block is made as a multi-pole terminal with several clamp bodies in one terminal housing. This results in results in further simplifies the manufacture and assembly. The conductor protection elements are stamped from the sheetmetal strip with the contact blades of all poles of the terminal, the stampings of the individual poles hanging together also through a longitudinal strip of the stamping strip which originates at one of the contact blades. The free legs of the conductor protection elements are then bent in U form and the clamp bodies are slipped onto the bent legs. The stamped parts are thus pre-assembled with the clamp bodies, the connecting longitudinal strip is removed and the contact blades are bent, whereupon the clamp bodies with the stampings are inserted into the housing. Largely automatic assembly by machine is thus possible.
In a preferred embodiment, the axis of the plug is perpendicular to the axis of the conductor receiving passage behind the end face of the clamp body opposite the conductor receiving passage. In this embodiment, appropriately the edge of the rear end face of the clamp body is formed as a bending edge over which the contact blades are bent away from the conductor protection element. Appropriately the rear end face is slanted in such a way that the contact blades can be bent over this bending edge by an angle of more than 90.degree. Due to the residual elasticity left during the bending, after release the contact blades then maintain the desired bending angle of 90.degree. stress-free.